Donald Trump has left the building. Trump is in late-Elvis mode, the Elvis who imagined himself a secret federal agent. We're nigh on finding the man exposed bare-assed on the toilet he has made of his campaign.

Knowing that Trump is about to choke himself on a fried pb and banana sandwich, can we allow that, like Elvis, he has been a kind of self-destructive, very American, rock-n-roll genius? Elvis had his shocking hips; Trump had his shocking lips. Both spoke some truths.

The current trade regime is unfair to workers, not just in the US but abroad, and profoundly anti-democracy. US foreign policy lacks focus, particularly in the Middle East, where we side with all sides in Syria, to the demise of Syrians. Trump's approach to Russia is more based on real-politik interests and certainly less bizarre than Secretary Clinton's "reset." While oblivious elites like Obama and Clinton claim US promises don't have a price tag, Trump is right that non-elite Americans know the incredible cost of interventions abroad. Are other nations, particularly Japan and South Korea wealthy enough to pick up a greater part of their self defense tab? Yup. WWII is over, Democrats. And yes, US elections are rigged on behalf of Wall Street.

Now what? Trump is an old fart like Hillary. Trump is self-destructing first, but we'll assume the cranky sot Hillary will make it to November, though probably not far beyond. The hegemony of the duopoly is falling apart. The boomers are losing their grip. The young have no one representing their interests in the electoral system, and know only the politics of the web--and the streets.

The collapse of credible electoral opposition to Clinton will undermine the legitimacy of her coronation by the credulous coastal elites.

“[McAullife] said that Hillary is saying she’s against the Trans-Pacific Partnership now, but if she gets in, don’t worry, she’ll go back to supporting it. She went from calling it the gold standard to going against it. But if she gets in, she’ll change a comma or something and support it again."

Does anyone doubt Trump is right here at least? Whether you support TPP or oppose it, everyone knows Clinton is lying about her intentions. Her language in opposition is always hedged with commas (actually adjectives) which are easily removed later. And right now she's selling the education snake oil to working class people right beside her veep, who, like Hillary, never met an anti-labor trade deal he couldn't support or a corporate payoff he wouldn't pocket.

That's why Trump is more effective than Bernie, who refused to make the elites' venality and dishonesty an issue. But Trump gets that lack of trust actually IS the issue. Working class people aren't opposed to trade per se, or even immigration, they just can't trust that anyone will act in their interests to make fair agreements.

The whole bigotry thing strikes at least the white working class as prejudice masked as concern. Why is not bigotry to drive down wages by increasing the labor pool with vulnerable undocumented workers? How is not bigotry not to make wage, safety, and pollution structures inherent in our trade agreements? Elite Democrats put on a diverse face at their convention, than go home to their class segregated neighborhoods and gated communites. Working class people don't need the Clintons to teach us not to discriminate--just the opposite. Clinton brags about her listening skills, but she only has an ear open to the wealthy. She preaches at the rest of us.

Now that the shouty Clinton Convention is over, and the DNC elites endlessly praise their own good intentions and eloquence and clever use of jingoism to avoid economic issues, the American people are still stuck with two major candidates who are not with us--and certainly not of, by, or for us either.

So yeah, let Trump slip on the fried banana peel of his own bile, creating a vacuum for somene else to confront the corrupt Clinton machine. But at least he served a purpose in moving us toward a little less conversation. The working classes (of all races and genders) need to stop playing nice with the elites.

Don't look to me to join the eulogies. Trump is a zombie who won't stay dead.

My word of the day isn't Trump but Chump.

Assuming Sanders wasn't a Clinton plant all along (which I do assume), and assuming he did not take some kickback from the Clinton network (including their no-longer-mentioned Foundation), then Bernie was, at best, a schlemiel. Worse, his supporters got nothing believable, and he left us all at the mercy of the Clinton.

Does anyone believe Hillary will appoint Bernie to a SoS level cabinet position, as Obama did for her? He appears to have been cannibalized by the Clintons, like so many pols and journalists before him, but with even less to show for it.

For cripes sake Bernie, if you're going to sell out at least get a sinecure professorship like Reich.

Trump needs to apologize to the Khans for speaking disrespectfully about the loss of their son.

Former Senator Clinton needs to apologize to the Khans for voting to send Humayan to Iraq to die.

Instead, here's "victim" Hillary, crying in the Daily Beast:

"A friend of hers recently told me of marching with [Clinton] in a parade when one of her female haters in the crowd pushed forward wearing a blue dress with a prominent stain. Hillary turned to her friend and said, 'They really don’t think I have feelings, do they?'"

Got that? This is Hillary Clinton. The recipient of a $500 million plus in "speech fees" and "donations" in exchange for bank deregulation, WTO, NAFTA, TPP, for Iraq and Libya and billions in defense contracts. The same.

This is the same Hillary Clinton responsible for wage stagnation and sending thousands of babies into poverty and on to food stamps. Responsible for a million lost homes. The same Hillary Clinton who droned women and children to death from her "no reasonable prosecutor" email account via her "convenient" Blackberry. The same who voted for the lethal Iraq war, while lying about facing sniper fire herself.

[The second intrusion was from an outfit that apparently contracts with the New York Times and other media outlets. (I'd like to think it was MoDo.) Passed on RonJeremyBest, though. Just poked (ahem) around my email and photos.]

I won't eulogize him, but I think it possible Trump will withdraw. His personal narrative both requires his defeat ("it's rigged") but also precludes the humiliation of a lost election or even dimunition in the polling numbers ("I'm a winner.") Unlike bankruptcy, loss in the zero sum of an election can't be spun as a smart way to play the game. Hence, Trexit. We might also see a sudden depressed withdrawal from campaigning, but not the race. It is very likely that Trump's grandiosity compensates for his sense that he is not fit for the job, and his behavior already corresponds with self-sabotage.

Gary Johnson would be the immediate benificiary. The former New Mexico governor and his running mate former Gov. Weld have been far less cranky and ideological than previous libertarians, and have credible experience. The debates are within reach, and both major parties have reasons not to object to a third party presence this time, at least if Trump remains the nominal GOP candidate. Republican elites want Trump to lose and Democrats would encourage a third party candidacy that largely splits the opposition.

It's possible to imagine though that a Trump withrawal could result in a new ticket simply chosen by the RNC and associated bigwigs. (Reince Priebus, kingmaker.) Nikki Haley gets the nod, to correct Tump's pejudices, perhaps with Kasich, to project a less crazy party image. The goal would be 2020.

If Trump goes, Clinton's main argument for her presidency goes with him, at least for Sanders supporters. Sander's sad sacrifice to the anti-Trump cause would become meaningless, and at least some voters would leave the hostile neoliberal party for Stein's homey anti-TPP, pro labor, pro-environment rhetoric. It's imaginable the debates could be a fourway, particularly if the GOP insisted on Green participation to offset losses to libertarians.

Clinton wins, but fails to build Democrats into a dominant umbrella party with multiple wings. The political lanscape moves beyond the two party system.

The trickle is starting, revealing Trump's underlying instability. Rep. Hanna's defection may well mark him as an inverse Little Dutch Boy, unplugging the dike of respectability. Trump simply won't be able to keep up with the insult demand. He'll just have to tell the whole country to fuck off, which is likely an ineffective campaign slogan.

The CinC is encouraging the flood not only in appropriate words of support for Gold Star families, but by defining objectives on the ground in the Daesh/Syrian War, making Khan's sacrifice seem part of a cherent policy, if only achronistically.

The problem for Democrats will be timing. Trump won't recover, no, but his self-inflicted wound bleeds him out too soon for Clinton's coalition building. Voters will be free to consider other options, and military ventures can become political liabilities very quickly, particularly when taken unilaterally.

But that will be then, this is now. We're at an historical inflection point.

Well, Trump just told a crying baby to fuck off. That came just a few minutes after assuring the mom he loved babies and not to worry about the crying.

I don't know if he's depressed, but he's enunciating less and can't stay on a thread, worse than usual. I kept thinking "he's melting."

If babyfaced Paul Ryan wants to be President some day (and maybe a candidate some day soon), he has an opportunity now to show leadership. He can withdraw his support for Trump and offer to face a new, immediate election himself on being Speaker--or even just resign that thankless leadership seat in the snakepit.

Trump has already insulted Ryan's run back in Janesville WI, so why is Ryan just sitting there and taking it?

You could say McMorris Rodgers has a similar opportunity, but hard to tell if she has much ambition anymore. Ryan does, but he's going to get shown up.

Imagine this scenario: The RNC meets and votes to flip the ticket, and put Pence on top. "Recent events show Mr Trump needs more seasoning, and can gain experience as VP in the Pence administration." This solution works on so many levels, at least achnowledges primary voters, and of course would result in Trump voluntarily ending his candidacy, at least as a Republican.

Something for everyone in a flip, including Trumpty Trump. He can dance off as an independent on his "I told you so" platform.

Pence can pick brown eyed girl Haley for veep to replace Trump: BIG correction statement while still catering to the trad conservative wing. Haley can run in 2020 as prez with a Rubio clone veep. Hello, new majority!

Ryan can stop sucking on his thumb and say condescending, appreciative, passive-agressive Midwestern things about Trump which will drive baby Donald around the bend.

Progressives can bolt the neo-lib Democratic Party.

The nuclear codes will be safe. Well, except for the Hillary part. Safer.

Humpin', funkin', jumpin',harassin' Ivanka's rump,and when the dude a chump pump points a finger like a stumptell him step off, I'm flippin' the Trump

Trump may not drink, but he is on the equivalent of a bender. It's like in the 70s, a guy might crash his pickup, pick some fights, pee on the church lawn, wake up with a hooker, miss a week of work, show up hungover the next Monday for his shift and nobody says shit. Goes home to the wife, gets his scolding, they have a few and he's extra attentive at bedtime. Never says sorry.

All that matters is Trump doesn't back down, time goes by. Keep talking. Maybe he gets in a few zingers at the debates, maybe just make it clear it's all just posturing anyway. Everyone already knows a half dozen Trump positions to one of Hillary's, even if she does outspend him 10 to 1, has a huge campaign machine, all those cookies baking, and Hillary standing by her man, but so troubled by Trump and his free ways. [Sigh]

Hillary has her transition team intellectualizing a cooperative government structure with defused responsibility.Trump is establishing Johnsonian dominance relationships with congressional, military, and party leaders.

Trump says "why have nukes if we don't use them," and Hillary warns "these are the stakes!"Trump says, yeah, what are the stakes, exactly. Hold em? Fold em? Cash em in? What are the odds?Hillary says respect the generals' decisions.Trump says, generals take orders from me. I'm CinC. They're my generals or they're fired.

Hillary says Trump is rude, not proper, lacks decorum.Trump says, wanna see my gall bladder scar? My hands? My dick?Hillary says act presidential! Have some manners! No drama.Trump says this how a real president acts to get shit done. The rest is bs.Hillary says, but Obama--Trump says, exactly.

Trump can strut, but he'll be sleeping on the couch until the RNC can change the locks. Yes, he has donations, but getting money was supposedly not the problem--he needed party structures to learn how to spend it. Everything Republicans do now will be focused on disengaging the presidential race from House and Senate races, and rebuilding for 2020. Reince might get a personal restraining order against him.

What an exciting opportunity for third party hopefuls.

The Democrats are trying to float the kinda creepy line that Trump must not only be beaten but crushed! Nyet. Just beaten. Voters will still want a check on Clinton's executive powers; no one wants to give her a mandate ("mandate"--so cis!)

The "total victory" demand is like the Defense of Marriage Act. Democratic elites worry that the Republicans' broken home might give the wrong idea to their own minions. Hey, vote your conscience (but only if you're a Republican).

As more states become safe, it will be interesting to see how far Sanders loyalty to Clinton goes. If New Hampshire is now safe, why not advocate a vote for Stein?

Johnson at least will be in the debates, even if "Little Johnson" doesn't want him there.

Four score and seven years ago, when I immigrated to this land of endless sunshine from the land of stormy skies and gales, I realized Sherriff John Brown always hated me. For what I don't know. Donald said, "no woman no cry, and come I'll give you shelter from the storm."

All I had to fear was fear itself. "Life is like a box of chocolates," Donald told me,"We fly like paper, get high like planes, if they catch you at the border I got visas in your name." Borders, I thought, what's up with that?

So I was born in the summer of my 27th year, coming home to a place I'd never been before. I asked not what my country could do for me, but what I could do for my country. One pill made me larger, and one pill made me small. The tide was high, but I was moving on. I knew I was going to be Donald's number one. At last. Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I was free at last!

But a house divided against itself cannot stand. Should I stay or should I go? What I need is a good defense, because now I feel like a criminal. I got one hand in my pocket, and the other is hailing a taxicab. I'm staying alive. Gonna fly right out of here, without a single word.

But they're coming to take me away, oh no! Nowhere to run, aint got nowhere to go. I fought the law but the law won! I saw my light come shining from the west down to the east. That's the sound of the woman working on the chain gang. Then they sent me to a foreign land, where I learned to fight the orange man. Bitch better have my money, I thought. Better pay me what he owes me.